Hairdressing tongs which consist of two heating pads and can be equipped with a water reservoir for simultaneous emission of steam have already been offered on the market. The pads, fixed to the end of two handle arms connected by a pivot and a spring, hold the two arms apart from one another in the rest position.
By acting on the handle using the hand, it is possible, starting from a position of maximum opening, to move the two arms, and therefore the pads which are integral therewith, towards one another through a variable acute angle to, at the end of travel, bring the pads into contact and in principle into a parallel position.
Locks of hair are gripped between the heating pads and the hair can thus be smoothed by making it slide between the hot pads, if necessary with an emission of steam obtained from water originating from a reservoir incorporated in the support of one heating pad, in contact with which the water evaporates.
This type of angular-opening tongs has the fundamental disadvantage that it cannot easily be adapted to different types of hair and in particular, with a constant lock thickness, that it acts on the gripped hair on one side more than the other. In fact, in the case of arms articulated about a common axis, the angle between the pads varies constantly according to the separation. The pads therefore follow only imperfectly the shape of the locks of hair. This device also does not allow the user to achieve all the desired shaping effects.